Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 24, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/50544-snake-in-the-backyard.html
Pakistan's peace cheque is post-dated and
issued on a bank in dubious health. It is buying time by pretending to seek
better relations with India.
Pakistan is going through troubled times.
Opposition is mounting in the United States Congress to proposals by the Obama
Administration for military and economic assistance to a country labelled
as a 'major non-NATO ally' but recently characterised as nurturing a "snake
in its backyard". Americans increasingly allude to Pakistan as an 'enemy'
rather than as a 'friend'. An enterprising American journalist humorously
describes Pakistan as a "frenemy" of the US.
Turkey has for decades cultivated Pakistan,
even at the expense of its relations with India. But, just on the eve of the
Istanbul Summit on Afghanistan, the influential Turkish daily Hurriet, reflecting
the views of its Government, warned: "Treating Afghanistan as its own
backyard and waging proxy war will be to the detriment of Pakistan's own interest.
Pakistan needs to change course and stop relying on its nuisance value".
At the Maldives SAARC Summit an infuriated Afghan President Hamid Karzai directly
alluded to Pakistani support and safe havens for the Taliban, asserting: "We
believe we should talk to Pakistan (and not the Taliban). We cannot keep talking
to suicide-bombers till we have the address, telephone number and a door to
knock at."
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's reaction to
accusations of supporting terrorism has been based on the adage that offence
is the best form of defence. Rather than hanging his head in shame after Osama
bin Laden was found hidden by the military at Abbottabad, Gen Kayani aroused
public passions by converting the whole issue into one involving an American
breach of Pakistan's sacred 'sovereignty'. A cornered and weak civilian Government
was left with little choice but to join Gen Kayani in fanning the flames of
anti-Americanism.
Gen Kayani's propaganda focussed on how 30,000
Pakistani lives had been sacrificed as "victims of terrorism". The
Pakistanis conveniently glossed over the fact that the bulk of those who died
had been killed in conflict with terrorists who had been earlier trained and
armed by the ISI. While the usual suspects in the American media and academia
tried to bend backwards to empathise with the Pakiastani Army, and US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton made some soothing noises, Pakistan now faces the
reality that duplicity on terrorism is making it an international pariah.
Pakistan's propaganda offensive against India
on terrorism has, however, left New Delhi confused and defensive, thanks to
some inept handling by South Block. At Sharm el-Sheikh, Pakistan succeeded
in de-linking terrorism from the composite dialogue process. Our diplomats
tried to be too-clever-by-half by pretending, contrary to facts, that all
that we had resumed was a dialogue and not the 'composite dialogue,' which
was commenced pursuant to a categorical assurance by Pakistan that "territory
under its control would not be used for terrorism against India".
The net result has been that the salience
of terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which is today the primary source of
international and Indian concern, has been thoroughly eroded in the dialogue
process. Worse still, Pakistan is now getting away with the propaganda that
what happened in Mumbai is no different from the deaths caused by 'Hindu terrorists'
in the Samjhauta Express bombing. Pakistan points a finger at India for allegedly
failing to prosecute the perpetrators of the Samjhauta Express bombing and
uses this to explain its inaction in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to
book.
Pakistan knows from its past experience that
Indian diplomacy lacks the resilience and resolve to stand firm on terrorist
outrages it perpetrates. Dawood Ibrahim, the perpetrator of the Mumbai serial
bombings in 1993 when more than 250 innocent people lost their lives, resides
in resplendent splendour in a mansion in the elite Defence Housing Society
in Karachi. This attack did not prevent New Delhi from bending backwards to
start the composite dialogue process, where terrorism was bracketed with drug-smuggling,
in 1999.
The commencement of this dialogue process
was followed by the Kargil conflict and the attack on the Red Fort in Delhi
by the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, with Hafiz Mohammed Saeed publicly and proudly proclaiming
that he had "unfurled the green flag of Islam on the ramparts of the
Red Fort". We, in turn, issued an invitation for a Summit with General
Pervez Musharraf with no proper preparations. Shortly after the failed Summit,
the Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose leader we had released during the hijacking of
IC 814, attacked our Parliament House.
In order to justify the decision to de-link
the resumption of the composite dialogue process from terrorism, we are also
now witnessing the strange phenomenon of the spin doctors of South Block making
it appear that Pakistan is doing a great favour by extending the Most Favoured
Nation status to us. As a London-based Pakistani analyst, Mr Haider Shah,
representing the Rationalist Society of Pakistan, notes: "Normal, non-discriminatory
trade relations are the cornerstone of the international trade system under
the World Trade Organisation as MFN is the first article of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade, second article of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services, and the fourth article of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights. This means that the prohibitive tariff of
yesteryears amounts to pushing the country back into the Stone Age, as all
other countries have moved ahead of the second stage and are entering the
third phase of Free Trade Agreements."
Moreover, despite the agreement between Commerce
Secretaries, it remains to be seen if Pakistan will fulfil its commitments
on trade liberalisation to be undertaken by November 2012, as Prime Minister
Gilani has averred that no final decision has been taken on granting MFN status
to India.
An astute Indian analyst recently observed:
"Pakistan's peace cheque is post-dated, and issued on a bank in dubious
health." Pakistan is obviously buying time by pretending to seek a better
relationship with India, even while retaining its jihadi assets to strike
again when its present isolation ends and it is able to move more forces from
the Durand Line to its eastern border. We should, therefore, ensure that Pakistan
does not succeed in installing its jihadi proxies in Kabul, while making it
clear that we are not prepared to forget or forgive the perpetrators of the
26/11 outrage, even if we courteously use terms like "man of peace,"
or a "breath of fresh air" to flatter their impeccably attired leaders
in the salubrious climes of the Attu Island resort in Maldives.
